Rekindling an Old Flame
by elizabethnbrown95
Summary: Ellie Bishop has feelings for Tony DiNozzo, but can they be reciprocated? It becomes doubtful when an old flame walks through the elevator into the squad room. But can this old couple find a way back to each other? What will Ellie have to say about it?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1.**

 _Author's note: The initialized below is from earlier that day_

The clock in the right corner of the computer finally switched to eight o'clock, Tony had been sitting in that same position the entire day. The entire team was waiting for another call, something to keep their minds preoccupied. Each one of them was worrying about something or someone.

"Uh, McGee. When do you think is an appropriate time to call it a day", Tony questioned, swiveling his chair to face Tim.

Tim had been thinking about his relationship with Delilah, the ring he had recently bought her was sitting in his desk. He had been waiting for the perfect time to ask. Better yet, he was waiting for the right time. In their line of work, was there ever a right time?

Tim looked at the watch on his wrist, "Just wait for boss, I'm sure he will be back soon."

Leroy Jethro Gibbs, the boss, was away on a mission in Iraq. The reason the team was worried is because the plane was supposed to land at six, two hours ago. No one had heard from him since his departure, but that was the point. Agent Gibbs was deeply undercover.

Tony looked back at his computer, the words started to blur. He had been staring at the same email since he came to work earlier that day, it was from his father. Tony and his father did not have a great relationship, but it was mending. His father had asked if he wanted to meet at nine for a late dinner, because he had something to talk to him about. Usually when Tony's father had something to talk about, it pertained to money.

The elevator across the room dinged, and out came a guy with almost white hair.

Tim jumped up from his seat, "Boss!"

Gibbs walked around the corner and gave Tim a look, "What?"

Tim sat down almost immediately, and he acted like he was working.

"It's just good to see you, boss", Tim said without looking up from his computer.

There was a moment of silence, "It's good to be back", Gibbs said sitting down at his desk.

"Where is Bishop", Gibbs asked as he leaned slightly back in his chair.

Tim nodded towards Tony to answer, "Uh, I think her family was coming in tonight, and she wanted to be at the airport to pick them up."

Tony knew this was a lie, they had an awkward conversation earlier, and she left the office upset. These awkward moments weren't common between the two, or they used not to be. Tim, better known as McGee, told Tony that Bishop has feelings for him. McGee never told him if those feelings were still there, but did he care that much? I mean, were they mutual?

Gibbs sat up slightly, "Family, huh?"

Gibbs gave his squad, the two that were there, the look that told them he didn't believe a word they were saying. Not that Gibbs would blatantly accuse them of lying, usually he would just go out on his own and figure out what was really going on.

Of course, that is what he did later that night. He drove himself to the apartment of Eleanor Bishop.

Ellie sat in the chair by her window and gathered her thoughts about what happened earlier that day.

" _Tony, can we talk", Ellie asked as she tried to gather the courage to tell him what she's been wanting to for awhile now._

 _Tony sat his coffee on his desk and then turned in her direction, "What's up?"_

" _Have you noticed something different between us", Ellie questioned adverting her eyes from his._

 _Ellie's heart was beating faster than she expected it would, her palms were sweating. How was she going to tell this guy she is falling for him? This wasn't how things were supposed to go, her divorce to Jake was so fresh. She had only just signed those papers, the ink could still be drying on them. But these feelings were nothing new, she had felt them for awhile now. Tony was charming and some of that rubbed off on her._

 _Tony looked confused, "No? I mean, I don't think so. Did I do something?"_

 _Ellie looked down at her feet, "No, I did."_

 _The look on Tony's face increased, he was intently staring at Ellie trying to figure out what she was trying to get at._

" _I might have accidentally gotten feelings for you", Ellie whispered._

 _The air filled with an awkward silence, neither could look at each other. They'd been close since Ellie transferred to NCIS, but Tony always felt like it was a brother/sister bond, nothing more and nothing less._

 _Tony didn't let himself get close to anyone, it wasn't in him after he got his heartbroken by Ziva._

Ellie heard a knock at her front door, part of her hoped it was Tony. So, they could find a way to talk about what happened earlier.

She cracked the door open a little.

"Bishop", Gibbs said, "Can I come in?"

Ellie didn't answer, just opened the door a little wider.

"It's good to see you're safe. We were all awfully worried, radio silence and all", Ellie said as she pointed at a chair for Gibbs to sit in.

Gibbs sat down, "It's part of the job sometimes, but where is your family?"

Ellie looked at Gibbs confused, "What?"

"Tony told me you left work early to get your family from the airport", Gibbs grinned. He had caught them in a silly lie.

Ellie looked past Gibbs and out towards the building across from her apartment, the trees had begun to blossom. Not that anyone could tell well at this time of night, although the street lights were on them.

"Rule 12", Ellie whispered.

Gibbs nodded, "I had a feeling, want to talk about it?"

Ellie shook her head, "I'm not sure it is worth talking about."

It was understood between the two that this conversation wasn't going any further, but Gibbs knew what Ellie meant.

 **The next morning**

"Morning, morning", Tony greeted as he handed a coffee to Tim.

Tony gently placed Ellie's on her desk, not looking directly at her. Things still were weird between them, but they'd have to move on for now. They can't get into it at work.

Tim took a sip of his coffee, "How was your night?"

"I went to dinner with my father", Tony said with a slight grimace.

"That bad", Tim questioned.

Tony smiled, "Might be worse than you think, but it's fine."

Gibbs walked into the squad room, "Enough talk, dead naval officer downtown, get your gear."

Tony and Tim fought for who was going to drive this time, Tony won. When they all headed towards the elevator, they opened by themselves.

Inside the elevator was some woman, a very familiar woman.

"Hi, Tony", the voice said with an accent.

Tony stared, he couldn't believe his eyes. For a moment, he thought he was seeing something, she couldn't possibly be standing right in front of him.

"Ziva", Tony said with a slight question in his voice.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2.**

"Who is Ziva", Ellie questioned to Tim, but he was too busy staring at the lady with black hair exiting the elevator.

Everyone left in the squad room was staring at her, and they all acted as if they had seen a ghost. Ellie was left wondering who this mystery woman could possibly be, she certainly hadn't seen her before.

"She is", Tim began but couldn't finish because Tony cut him off.

"Ziva", Tony said again, like he was trying to see if the woman in the elevator was real, not just a figment of his imagination.

"Tony", Ziva said, this time she wrapped Tony into a hug, a hug that he wasn't quite returning yet. Tony was frozen in his spot, not moving a muscle.

Tim swallowed hard, "What are you doing here?"

Ziva turned her attention to Tim, "Ah, McGee. It's so good to see you." She walked over to Tim and gave him a hug, this one wasn't nearly as long as the one that she gave Tony.

Still no one was telling Ellie who this woman was, so Ellie did the only thing she could think of doing. She asked.

"I'm Ellie", Ellie said, reaching out her hand towards Ziva.

Ziva smiled, "Ziva David. I can tell by the way you look at me you haven't heard of me, part of me feels like I should be offended", she winked at Tony, who still wasn't meeting her stare.

No one else was saying a word, the atmosphere in the squad room was abnormally tense.

"I used to work here", Ziva finally finished as she slowly focused her attention back on Ellie.

Before Ellie could reply, Ziva was inching closer to Tony and whispered something into his ear. A pang of jealousy shot through Ellie, and she couldn't quite understand why. Although, she does how women act when they are trying to get a man's attention, and that is exactly what Ziva is doing with Tony.

Before long, Tony was following Ziva to the corner of the room.

"I'm sorry, I thought you knew I was coming", Ziva said to Tony, she forced herself to look into his eyes.

Ziva leaving wasn't just hard on Tony, it broke her heart as well. No one knew just how much Ziva loved Tony, she was never very open with her feelings.

Ziva raised her eyebrows, "You don't look happy to see me."

"I-", Tony didn't know what to say. Was he happy to see her? If asked this question a few months ago the answer would have been obvious, but the answer isn't now. Is it because of the blonde standing a short distance from him?

Tony glanced behind him, Ellie was taking short glances in their direction. For a split second Tony and Ellie's eyes met, but they both looked away quickly.

"Why are you here", Tony questioned trying to forget the awkward exchange with Ellie.

Ziva looked over at Ellie, "She hasn't been able to keep her eyes off of you since I got here. Girlfriend?"

"Can you just answer my question, please", Tony questioned without looking at her.

Ziva must have noticed her slight irritation, "I was asked to come back to work on an important case."

Curiosity overtook Tony, "What case?"

Ziva smiled slightly, "I can't say."

Tony started to walk back to his desk, but he turned to look back at Ziva. "It is good to see you", and he turned away before she could respond.

Ellie turned to Tim, "What was that about?"

Tim glanced up from the computer screen, "It's complicated."

"Were they a couple", Ellie questioned trying to hide just how curious she actually was.

Tim kept typing up the report he was working on, "Not a couple, but I always assumed there was something there. Like I said, it's complicated."

Tony was staring at his computer screen, but he didn't look like he was even the slightest bit interested with what was on it.

"Are you okay", Ellie questioned after taking a seat at her own desk.

Tony glanced up, "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

Tony forced a grin, and Ellie tried to return it. If Tony didn't want to talk about what was bothering him, Ellie wouldn't force it. She wasn't sure if she really wanted to know what he was thinking, because she knew it was most likely about that mysterious black-haired woman.

After a week of walking past each other and not saying much more than "hi", Tony decided he had to take the first step. After a long morning, Tony sat beside Ellie at lunch.

"I'm sorry", Tony said while taking a bite of his sandwich.

Ellie looked taken back, "Why are you sorry?"

Tony looked at Ellie and smiled slightly, "I've been avoiding you, because I'm not sure how I feel about what you said last week. With Ziva returning, I'm not really sure about anything."

Ellie sighed slightly, "I just want things to go back to normal. I don't want things to be weird between us forever, I'd rather just forget about what I said. What do you say?"

Tony looked at Ellie for a second, pondering what to say. "If that is really what you want."

Ellie cut off Tony before he could say anything else, "it is."

"Alright, it is forgotten", Tony said.

But was it? Could things really go back to normal? Neither Tony or Ellie truly knew the answer to that question, both were not even sure they wanted things to go back to normal. Tony didn't want to forget how Ellie feels about him. Why? Because, deep down, he knows he feels the same way about her.

The only issue was that black-haired woman, Ziva David. Neither Tony or Ellie knew the real reason that Ziva came back. They didn't know that Ziva has a huge secret to share with Tony and that the secret will change his life forever. Not only that, Ziva wants Tony back and that secret is the perfect way to make that happen.


End file.
